# Little mistakes that take you out of the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969 "2009-02-22T19:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/181 "2009-05-02T07:25:59Z")
**Carl Corey** > [@](#): > > Because Earl is the British equivalent of Count. The title of Earl existed before the Norman Conquest. An pre-conquest earl was much more powerful than a count though–more like a sub-king. When the Normans took over, earl was sort of shoe-horned in as an equivalent. I think you mean “count was sort of shoe-horned in”? But that still doesn’t explain why the wife of an Earl is a Countess. What was the wife of an Earl called before the Norman conquest? An Earless? (Earl-ess, not Ear-less, hee hee). An Earlett? Wench? 😉 > [@](#): > > I’m sorry I don’t have enough time to go into more detail. (Though you might not be.) I’d probably read a thread on it. **Swallowed My Cellphone** said: > [@](#): > > I always disregarded Earth military conventions for BSG. As I said, I’m willing to overlook variance from current or historical Earth rank structure. Call a General the lowest soldier, because he’s a General Soldier, and then call a Private the guy in charge, because he is not a public soldier, but a Private Officer. Whatever. It’s just minorly annoying when it doesn’t serve any real purpose but to confuse the ranking system. In a show that took pains to make most things just like Earth for simplicity and symbolism, having ranks that differ stands out. Just like almost the entire language is exactly the same, except the curse words. 😉 Okay, I know why that one is done. Serves a practical and artistic purpose. Whereas the rank structure could be argued as one of a handful of differences used to stress that they aren’t us. Still, it makes it a challenge to learn something new in order to follow the show. > [@](#): > > I took it that one was military rank and the other was more your administrative title on the battle ship. > > So, on Galactica, you’ve got your military rank (Major) and then your post assignment on the ship (Commander). That would make sense, but it is not consistent with the way they portrayed it within the show. They gave collar rank medallions for “Commander” and “Major” and such. Technically, I don’t recall specifically a scene designating “Colonel” rank pins, but I am not such a fanboy that I hunted down every little detail. **Raguleader** said: > [@](#): > > I just chalk it up to the fact that what they have left is the regrouped remnants of an utterly shattered and all but destroyed military force. Not everyone is going to be at the rank you’d expect them to be for certain responsibilities, for example the scenario sometimes given of the most junior ensign on a warship finding that he is the Captain due to everybody else being dead or incapacitated. I could accept that explanation if they actually presented it within the show. But the thing is, Tigh is XO of Galactica _before_ the fleet is shattered. He’s a Colonel and Adama’s #2 while they are prepping to decommission the old gal. Yet nobody else is ever a Colonel. Why not? > [@](#): > > For more fun examples of this, watch Babylon 5. You’re probably right. It’s been a lot longer since that show, and I don’t recall noticing as much. \*\*alphaboi867 \*\* said: > [@](#): > > Lee skipped Colonel because his dad wanted him to command Pegasus and a battlestar is commanded by a commander or admiral. The officer ranks went; Ensign, Lieutenant (JG), Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, Commander, and there were several grades of Admirals Okay, I’m willing to accept that explanation. Lee was promoted to Major, the lowest ranking XO rank, when placed as Pegasus second in command. But when he got bumped to Senior officer in charge, he had to jump to Commander to fit the slot. That’s why he skipped Colonel. And Pegasus didn’t have a Colonel because Cain executed him and hadn’t promoted the replacement yet. Forgot one. **Woeg** said: > [@](#): > > So is it possible that the fighter pilots use an air force ranking system (being small, “air” units) and the fleet ships use naval ranking (being large, boat like ships) in order to differentiate which “branch” the officer works for? Perhaps the XO for a fleet ship, then, is a ranking fighter jock - after all, the XO should be the captain advisor to other aspects of the ship. And then, when Apollo is given command of a fleet ship, his rank is promoted to one within the fleet ship ranking system, given that he is no longer a fighter jock (primarily)? Doesn’t work. For starters, the senior fighter jock is the CAG - Commander of the Air Group. Second, XO (Executive Officer) is really a command slot, not an advisor slot. He is the right hand of the Commander, the one who gets things done, the one who executes the daily staffing and such. Especially after Adama is made Admiral, and is as much in charge of the rest of the fleet as Galactica itself. It does not make sense for XO to be an Air Jock office per se. If they are going to juggle ranks between two systems as the positions shift, that position is most congruent with a Navy side rank. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/182 "2009-05-02T08:18:28Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > In Kill Bill, the Bride refers to the Crazy 88s as “yeah-KOO-zuhs” (with a plural “s”) when the Japanese pronunciation should be an evenly-stressed ya-ku-za (with no “s”). You know, kind of like the spelling of the word, _yakuza_. What makes it unbelievable is that earlier in the movie she is portrayed as speaking fluent Japanese. Yes, and the name O Ren Ishii is pronounced “O Ren Eeshee,” not the inexplicable “O Ren Ee she ee.” That’s not how Japanese works. The double letter means the syllable is a little longer, not that it gets split off. It’s bizarre because I only studied Japanese in school for a little while and Tarantino has probably seen thousands of Japanese movies, so how do I know that and he doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/183 "2009-05-02T15:48:09Z")
> [@Henjin](#): > > That said, when I’m speaking English, even w/ my Japanese friends, I’ll usually use the American English pronunciation of a word. i.e. I’ll pronounce ‘karaoke’ as ‘cary-okey’ instead of ‘karah-okeh’ […] Point being, even someone fluent in Japanese might just naturally say ‘Yakuzas’ for the plural, or use English inflection on it while speaking English. Especially someone as no-nonsense and not so much given to pretense as that character. 1.) I do the same thing. You feel like a complete idiot using the Japanese pronunciations of words like karate, karaoke, sumo, and Tokyo. 2.) That said, this only applies to words for which there is an established English pronunciation. \*Yakuza \*isn’t one of them. 3.) I have no problem with pluralizing \*yakuza \*as \*yakuzas \*in English; it’s just the weird, completely wrong pronunciation that throws me off. 4.) As hard as you try to fanwank her pronunciation, you can’t really ignore that a lot of her other pronunciation is typical “American who has just started learning Japanese,” and this just fits in with that. > [@Marley23](#): > > Yes, and the name O Ren Ishii is pronounced “O Ren Eeshee,” not the inexplicable “O Ren Ee she ee.” Maybe he thought she was Hawai’ian? :rolleyes: I’d totally forgotten about that one, too. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/184 "2009-05-02T16:29:58Z")
I’ll admit this is kind of stupid, but in the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, I get yanked out of the movie when the servant is putting the bedwarmer in Elizabeth’s bed. Yeah, I know, a whole movie full of anachronisms, unlikely coincidences, and a few physical impossibilities thrown in for good measure, and based on a supernatural curse that does things that not only aren’t possible, half the time they don’t even make sense… but the bedwarmer is the bit that gets to me. There were two kinds of bedwarmers, those which were filled with hot coals/embers and placed in the bed in the evening and removed _before_ the sleeper crawled under the covers, and the kind which were warmed by the fire and could be left in the bed all night. This is one of the former kind, being placed in the bed with Elizabeth. Her feet would be barbecued. :smack: I’m also not sure why you’d have a bedwarmer in Jamaica, but that’s not as jarring as the fried feet. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/185 "2009-05-02T16:49:59Z")
I know at least one of you were commenting on binoculars, and how they always show it with the “binocular vision” instead of the one unified view. I noticed while watching Thursday’s CSI that whenever the CSIs look into a microscope they successfully show it with the unified view, as opposed to the double view. There might be a different industry standard about microscopes, but it’s something I noticed nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/186 "2009-05-02T20:35:26Z")
Not really a mistake, but I am always incredibly distracted whenever someone gives 555-1234 as their phone number. How hard would it be for the filmmakers to pay $19 / month for a real phone number that they could put in movies, and ignore otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![dujo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dujo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dujo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/187 "2009-05-02T20:53:39Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > As I said, I’m willing to overlook variance from current or historical Earth rank structure. Call a General the lowest soldier, because he’s a General Soldier, and then call a Private the guy in charge, because he is not a public soldier, but a Private Officer. Whatever. It’s just minorly annoying when it doesn’t serve any real purpose but to confuse the ranking system. In a show that took pains to make most things just like Earth for simplicity and symbolism, having ranks that differ stands out. Just like almost the entire language is exactly the same, except the curse words. 😉 Okay, I know why that one is done. Serves a practical and artistic purpose. Whereas the rank structure could be argued as one of a handful of differences used to stress that they aren’t us. Still, it makes it a challenge to learn something new in order to follow the show. None of this puzzles me nearly as much as their use of octagonal paper. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/188 "2009-05-02T20:58:49Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **Carl Corey** > I think you mean “count was sort of shoe-horned in”? But that still doesn’t explain why the wife of an Earl is a Countess. What was the wife of an Earl called before the Norman conquest? An Earless? (Earl-ess, not Ear-less, hee hee). An Earlett? Wench? 😉 Probably “Lady So-and-so” or “the Earl’s wife.” The pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxons were not excessively formal people. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/189 "2009-05-02T21:50:10Z")
Not really totally drew me out of the movie, but… Near the end of Spider Man 2, right after Spidey/Peter convinces Doc Ock that he has to destroy his machine, all seems to be over. MJ is staring at Spidey sans mask and probably falling in love with Peter all over again. Nice little romantic moment. Then, just behind her, the entire wall begins to collapse right on top of her. MJ falls to the floor and for some reason there is a pretty strong breeze coming through the room. MJ is on her side cowering, screaming in fear she will be crushed to death. Both her arms are raised to shield herself from the falling wall. Somehow, the breeze blows her dress up. Even on the censored TV version, you can see her panties (just a bit, though). Somehow, in this amazingly dangerous moment facing her imminent demise, she gathers her modesty and pushes her dress back down, as if her bare backside will be more harmful to her than being crushed by tons of iron and brick. Sheesh. Of course, Spidey saves the day, but the whole moment is now ruined. After that, the rest of the movie just got sappy. At least there were only 10 minutes left. Like I said, not really drew me totally out of the movie, but it was another instance of the actor coming out of character and remembering she’s an actress. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/190 "2009-05-02T22:36:24Z")
Rescue Me totally f’ed up for me in the last episode. They are backing the truck into the station and everyone is hopping out. The exhaust vent tube is already clipped to the exhaust pipe before the truck stops moving or anyone exits the truck. an example [http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/vehicle-equipment/exhaust-removal-systems/233358-MagneGrip-trade-Exhaust-Extraction-System/](http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/vehicle-equipment/exhaust-removal-systems/233358-MagneGrip-trade-Exhaust-Extraction-System/) ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/191 "2009-05-03T04:48:26Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Not really a mistake, but I am always incredibly distracted whenever someone gives 555-1234 as their phone number. > > How hard would it be for the filmmakers to pay $19 / month for a real phone number that they could put in movies, and ignore otherwise? Seriously. Or just obscure part of the number, or don’t show/say it at all. Totally jarring. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/192 "2009-05-03T04:53:41Z")
Wait… In _Spider Man 2_ you can see Kirsten Dunst’s panties? My favorite mistake, one that did take me out of the movie, occurred during the train scene. Doc Ock picks up Spiderman, throws him _forward_. Spiderman, turning himself so he can go through an elevated walkway, then tackles Doc Ock from _behind_, having done nothing to alter his momentum. Obviously I was still out of the movie when Kirsten’s underwear came on screen. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/193 "2009-05-03T05:30:39Z")
Yeah, I saw that forward throw one too… but while I was busy trying to build a post for it I got a glimpse of Dunst’s backside… Somewhere along the line I changed gears. I don’t know when. I’ll have to break out the DVD to make sure I didn’t imagine it. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/194 "2009-05-03T06:08:34Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > I had a similar problem with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Towards the end of the movie, when faced with a cloaked enemy ship, Scotty rigs up a torpedo that can home in on the enemy’s heat signature, telling the confused crew (and by extension, the movie audience) “the thing has got to have a tailpipe!”, at which point they all understand. > > Somehow, I doubt the crew is that familiar with the concept of personal automobiles using internal combustion engines. Scotty _might_ be educated on centuries old technology, but then again he tried to _talk_ to a 1980’s-era PC back in Star Trek IV, and was confused when it didn’t respond back. I kind of remember that part. What threw me, however is the notion that a “cloaked enemy ship” had forgotten to mask their heat output. I mean… current military has goggles available which would be able to “see” a ship like that. Why doesn’t the Enterprise? ---
**Author:** ![Henjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Henjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henjin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/195 "2009-05-03T06:14:06Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > 1.) I do the same thing. You feel like a complete idiot using the Japanese pronunciations of words like karate, karaoke, sumo, and Tokyo. > 2.) That said, this only applies to words for which there is an established English pronunciation. \*Yakuza \*isn’t one of them. > 3.) I have no problem with pluralizing \*yakuza \*as \*yakuzas \*in English; it’s just the weird, completely wrong pronunciation that throws me off. > 4.) As hard as you try to fanwank her pronunciation, you can’t really ignore that a lot of her other pronunciation is typical “American who has just started learning Japanese,” and this just fits in with that. > Maybe he thought she was Hawai’ian? :rolleyes: I’d totally forgotten about that one, too. ‘Fanwank.’ Heheh. I dunno if I’d say that. Just saw the movie once several years ago… I really can’t remember what the pronunciation was like, but you’re right that there’s no real established English pronunciation for it. I guess my main point was the plurals. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/196 "2009-05-03T06:26:29Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > I mean… current military has goggles available which would be able to “see” a ship like that. Why doesn’t the Enterprise? The Federation has evolved past primitive concepts like “infrared.” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/197 "2009-05-03T08:17:54Z")
Hey, I was watching an episode of Burn Notice, and they had someone using binoculars with a single circular view. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/198 "2009-05-03T15:25:30Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Hey, I was watching an episode of Burn Notice, and they had someone using binoculars with a single circular view. Having used them on many occasions, thats what I see. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/199 "2009-05-03T15:52:52Z")
The movie _Million Dollar Baby_ has been the source of my ire for years… I [posted this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6773537&postcount=101) in a thread about scientific mistakes that ruin a movie. Damn, I hated that film… ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969/200 "2009-05-03T23:00:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Whenever a woman in a TV show uses an OTC pregnancy test: > They take it any random time of day. In reality, these tests should only be done with your “first pee of the day.” > They usually take it within a few days of missing their period. In reality, the tests aren’t considered entirely accurate until a week after the missed period. > The results are always seen as definitive. In reality, most manufacturers advise a retest a few days after a negative result if your period doesn’t stat, just to be sure. I could be wrong, but has it been a couple of years since you had occasion to take a pregnancy test? These days, a lot of them can be used at any time of the day. And some are pretty accurate up to four days before your period’s even due. Last time I took one, I did it in the evening of the day I was due. Seven and a half months later, I’m in a position to state definitively that it was accurate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-mistakes-that-take-you-out-of-the-movie/486969.md?page=11)